Avengers: Infinity Quest
by Mario Quade
Summary: Earth's Mightiest heroes set out to undo Thanos' snap. The key for this may not lie ahead but past them. On their quest to save everyone a pursuing Thanos is not even the worst of their problems. This adventure not only shows them how fragile life is but everything else around them as well, including reality itself.
1. Chapter 1: Aftermath

**I know it's a bit late for an Infinity War follow up, but I wanted to get this one right. This chapter will first be told from Tony's and then from Steve's perspective with following chapters always being told from the perspective of one character. And I hope that despite English being my secondary language and me not using a beta reader, the story is readable and the gramma and vocabulary acceptable. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Tony Stark normally burst with self-confidence, but right now he was sitting on a rock, dressed in his sports attire with which he had been out in the street the day before, running with his fiancée Pepper Potts. It was full of sweat and blood now. Not something the richest man on Earth would normally wear. He relieved the events of the last day or two, he wasn't really sure how much time had passed. How he had tried to stop two aliens from kidnapping some wizard named Strange, how he and Peter freed that wizard and then crash-landed the abductor's ship onto this deserted planet, where they then joined up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to fight Thanos. Well, that was something they totally failed at, Tony thought. Thanos had won, he had nearly killed him and for some reason Strange decided that he needed to live, condemning the rest of the universe to suffer by giving Thanos the Time Stone in exchange for his life. He still couldn't figure out why Strange had broken his oath, that he hadn't been getting tired of repeating over and over again.

Then again, his mind was too busy with blaming himself at the moment, preventing him from forming any actual logical thoughts. Thanos had accomplished his life's goal - with Peter Parker being one of his victims. Peter, the son Tony never had and might never have now. Only yesterday had he tried to explain to Pepper that he wanted them to have a child, but now he could no longer see himself being a father. He had failed the closest thing to a child he ever had and there was no way he would be putting another person through that.

Tony also knew that Thanos had to have killed Vision, the android he had helped to built, to get control of the Mind Stone. And in doing so he probably had to go up against the other Avengers left on Earth, which could easily mean that he and his minions might have killed some of them. He didn't even dare to think about how many of them might have been erased by the snap of Thanos' finger. Because if he did that, he would have had to contemplate the possibility of Pepper to have been turned to dust as well and he just couldn't do that. If he wanted to keep any hope, any reason to not continue to sit where he was sitting now, he had to convince himself that Pepper was fine and couldn't even entertain the thought of the opposite.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when somebody approached him. Tony looked up and saw the blue woman that had crashed into Thanos during the battle with her spaceship, or pot, which would have been a more accurate description of it the more Tony thought about it. She was mostly blue beside the middle of her face which was purple, and the rest of her exposed skin wasn't always in the same blue colouration either. She clearly had a metal hand and Tony had come to the conclusion that she either had to be an android or a cyborg.

"Who are you," she finally asked as she stood directly in front of Tony. She had been there when everyone else turned to dust but then she had wandered off, leaving Tony alone in his grieve.

"Tony Stark, and who are you, Smurfette?"

The blue woman looked as if she was raising an eyebrow. "So you are a Terran."

Tony looked at her questioningly. "If that means that I'm a human from Earth, then yes, I'm Terran," he replied. "But that doesn't answer my question."

"I'm Nebula and I'd warn you, do not call me Smurfette. The only reason why I let Quill got away with it was that my sister had feelings for him."

Tony sighed. "Okay, okay, Brainiac..."

This time he was certain – Nebula sighed. "What is it with you Terrans and your nicknames."

"Well, in this case, it's about me wanting to know if you are a cyborg or an android," Tony countered.

"What difference would that make?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know, if you are the first I might could use my iPhone to hack your systems. Apple doesn't play well with Google you know."

Nebula gave him a blank stare.

This time it was Tony's turn to sigh. "Okay, no more jokes. Which, for the record, is pretty hard for me," he promised. "Now, Nebula, how are we gonna get off this planet? I doubt there's enough space in your capsule for two."

Nebula remained quiet for a moment before jerking her head in the direction she came from. "Follow me, human."

Tony stood up, groaning in pain. His suit had sealed his wounds momentarily but he needed surgical attention as soon as possible.

"I'm not going to carry you," was all Nebula had to say about the sounds he had made.

"Wasn't about to ask. I already have somebody waiting for me at home anyway," Tony quipped, swallowing down his pain.

Nebula clearly rolled her eyes, or at least that's what it looked like for Tony, before starting to walk somewhere, probably the direction in which she had disappeared after the fight. After a few minutes Tony spotted something in the distance and soon after he realised what it was – a ship. "I guess this is the ship the Guardians came in?"

Nebula nodded. "The Benatar."

"How fast can it get us back to Earth?"

Nebula turned around and looked at him as if she wanted to protest.

"Hey, I know, you probably do not want to go there, I actually get that. But I need help here," he pointed at his torso, "and the best place to get that for me is Earth. Not only that, there are things I have to take care of there and if some of my friends are still alive they might be some real help for you, for us, to go up against Thanos, if that's even possible now that he has all the stones."

Nebula's possible protest was seemingly erased with that. She moved her head in a fashion that signalled that she understood and the two continued their path. "What do you know about the Infinity Stones," she asked as they entered the ship.

"Not much, considering that I've only heard about them twice and the most detailed lecture I got about them was maybe yesterday, sorry, lost a bit track of time. And even that one was over in about a minute. If I understood it correctly, they were created from the remnants of the Big Bang, representing Space, Reality, Power, Time, Mind and Soul, with each stone having certain capabilities that are connected to these, well, concepts. And if you somehow manage to connect all of them and wield their power together you basically become a god."

Nebula simply nodded. "Correct, human. My father..."

"Wait a minute," Stark interjected. "Thanos is your father?"

"Adoptive father. He took me and Gamora and several other children from worlds he had slaughtered and trained us to be his loyal followers. Since you arrived in a ship from the Black Order, you probably have met some of them already."

"A very big guy with scales and a weapon that resamples an axe and a Squidward with long white hair aren't members of this order by any chance?"

"Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw, the most deadly of them all. Out of all of the children Thanos took he is the most devoted to his cause."

"Maw was the Squidward who could make things fly?"

"To simplify his abilities, yes."

"Well, then the correct tense would be was."

"What?"

"Maw was the most devoted to the cause. He's dead," Tony said, kinda smugly. "Blew him out of his own ship. That's kinda why we crash-landed."

Nebula looked surprised. "What about Cull Obsidian," she asked.

Tony shrugged. "He wasn't on the ship, so he most likely remained on Earth."

Nebula sighed as she sat down in the pilot seat. "Let's just hope that he isn't on Earth anymore."

Tony had the urge to make another quip, to tell her that the Avengers would have taken care of that, but he couldn't. Not only didn't the Avengers really exist any longer, something he had to once again remind himself of, a circumstance he himself was to blame for, at least partially, and even if they did, it was clear that they failed in stopping Thanos from obtaining the Mind Stone.

"Well, maybe, but my earlier points still stand," Tony said instead.

Instead of responding, Nebula simply told him to strap in as she started the engines. The ship ascended from the planet and the cyborg plotted a course back to Earth. "This might get dangerous."

"Why?"

"A normal trip would take too long for you, you'd probably be dead once we reach Terra, the M-Class ships are nowhere near as fast as the ships used by the Black Order, it would take weeks instead of days to get back."

"So I guess we're going to take a short cut through some kind of wormhole," Tony guessed.

"A what?"

"A wormhole, a connection between two points in space outside the normal time-and-space-continuum, allowing us to travel between these points in a fraction of the time needed for it in normal space."

Nebula's head movements once again made it look like she was raising her eyebrows in surprise. "That's nearly correct, human. There's a network of artificially created fissures in the space-time-continuum that allow us to travel between certain points in space in a matter of seconds or minutes, depending on how long the jump takes."

Tony nodded. "So more artificial wormholes," he said.

"Not really, but it's close enough."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why it's dangerous."

"We can only make one jump at a time between two points. If the fissure here isn't connected to the one close to Terra, you can forget to get there with one jump, we'd have to jump to another one that is connected to Earth."

"Still doesn't explain why this is dangerous," Tony interjected.

Nebula groaned. "It's a strain on organic matter to jump through the UNTN, too many jumps could get dangerous for any person but like you said yourself, you're seriously injured, so you might not survive too many."

Tony gulped. "Okay, that does sound a bit dangerous." He paused. "And what exactly does UNTN stand for?"

"Universal Neural Teleportation Network," was the answer. "Now hold on, it seems like we are lucky and will only have to make two jumps."

Before Tony could say anything more, he was launched back in his seat and got the feeling that his internal organs were turned inside out. He just hoped that he was going to make it until Earth.

* * *

Steve sat on a rock, his face hidden behind his hands. They had failed and had paid the cost, a cost way too high to be paid. Half the universe was gone now, and among that half were his two best friends, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson. He had just gotten Bucky back, his best friend since childhood, and now he had to see him die right in front of him for a second time. Only this time there was no way of getting him back, or at least Steve couldn't think of one. Next to him sat Rhodey, still in shock as well. He had been the one to find Red Wing and with that the proof that Sam was among the victims. Neither one of the soldiers knew what to do now. Okoye and M'Baku tried to bring order to the battlefield, for which Thor had offered his assistance. His raccoon companion, something Steve was still struggling to wrap his mind around, had disappeared. He hadn't been among the people who vanished, but Steve had more important problems to worry about at the moment than figuring out where an extraterrestrial, talking raccoon had gone to in his grief. A loud crack snapped him and Rhodes out of their deep thoughts.

"Got you big guy," Natasha said as she and three Wakandians helped Bruce out of his rocky prison, in which Thanos had banished him during the battle. The way Natasha was looking at Bruce in that moment, and he was staring back, stirred something up in Steve but he swallowed it down. Now wasn't the time to figure out his conflicting emotions when it came to Natasha Romanoff. Still, he averted his gaze once again as he heard Natasha asking Bruce if he was okay. There wasn't an answer so Steve assumed that Bruce either nodded or shook his head, but he didn't look up. He was too spent, or at least that what he told himself.

"What about you two," Natasha suddenly asked, stepping closer to the two soldiers sitting on their rocks. She gave Rhodey a concerned look before shifting her entire attention to Steve. Worry was written all over her face and Steve could make out sadness in her eyes. She didn't wear it on her sleeves as he was at the moment but the loss of so many people, Sam and Wanda especially in her case, had clearly effected her enough for her to stop caring to hide the feelings for the moment being.

"We'll be alright," Rhodey said as Steve and Natasha simply stared in each others eyes, silently reassuring each other that things would somehow turn out okay. Throughout the last two years in which they had been on the run together, they had perfected their silence communication to the level that Sam had called it creepy. But these reassurances didn't do much for either one of them. They simply knew that nothing was okay at the moment and might never be again.

Natasha nodded in response to what Rhodey said but didn't break eye contact with Steve for a moment longer, before looking at the former Air Force pilot again. "We're going to take Bruce up to the city. Are you coming with us or are you gonna stay here and help out Thor," she asked.

"I'm going up to the city," Rhodey said. "My legs need the rest."

Natasha nodded and looked back to Steve, with a somehow pleading look in her eyes. Steve didn't know if she wanted him to stay or to come with her, it might have been the first time in months he couldn't read her. He sighed. "I'm going to stay here. I...," he paused as he stood up while also breaking eye contact with Natasha, not catching a trace of sadness flashing over her facial features. "I need to keep myself occupied right now," he finally said and walked off without waiting for a response from the others.

Steve walked through the forest onto the battlefield, where Wakandian warriors were killing the last remaining alien beasts Thanos' followers had brought with them. Without any of their leaders alive they became unorganized and even more animalistic with flight instincts setting in, which seemed to have been suppressed before. A lightning strike hit close to Steve and killed a group of these beasts that had hidden just behind the forest line. The former captain looked up and saw his Asgardian friend descend onto the ground.

"Nice hit," commented Steve, trying to sound nonchalant but he failed miserably.

"Thanks," Thor replied, also sounding sombre. "Have you seen my companion, the rabbit?"

"You mean the raccoon," Steve corrected.

Thor looked confused for a moment before letting out a simple "yeah".

Steve shrugged as a response. "I don't know, I...," he stopped himself again, rubbing his hands over his bearded face. "I was too occupied with myself and the deaths of my two best friends to be honest."

Thor didn't say anything, he simply laid his free left hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezed it. The two men looked deep into each others eyes, clearly seeing the hurt in those, recognising that they both had lost the people they cared about the most in the last few days.

"Who did you lose," Steve finally asked.

Thor swallowed and turned away. He let his axe fall to the ground and walk a few feet before turning around again. "Everything," he finally answered. Steve was confused but didn't say anything. "I found out Loki was still alive and that he had taken father's place, banished him to Earth, where we found him in Norway. Just as he died he told us about our sister, Hela."

Thor stopped and Steve simply stared at his friend. "So, Odin's dead," he muttered. Then he frowned. "Doesn't that make you king of Asgard?"

Thor didn't answer, instead he discovered an interest in the Wakandian grasslands. "Hela was the first born," he finally said.

"Does that mean she's the queen of Asgard now," Steve asked confused.

Thor shook his head and let out a dry laugh. "No. She was the goddess of death, a blood-hungry warlord who father had to imprison since he could not kill her. But he could only contain her as long as he was alive," Thor explained before becoming silent once more.

Steve started to realise what happened. "So Odin died, Hela appeared, tried to take the throne and you had to kill her."

Thor nodded. "You could say so, but it was a bit more complicated than that."

"How so?"

Thor swallowed. "Loki and I were pushed out of the Bifrost by Hela on our way back to Asgard. We stranded on a planet named Saakar, where a lot of wormholes end, making it some kind of trash dump of the universe. At least, that is how Banner described it."

"Banner? You mean, Bruce was there?"

Thor nodded. "Somehow he had managed to fly his quinjet into one of these wormholes and land on Saakar as the Hulk. He remained in that form for three years."

"Three years," Steve practically shrieked.

"Oh yeah, and the green beast has developed the personality of a little child," Thor added. "He was forced to compete in a tournament, just as I was, by the ruler of the planet, a man calling himself Grandmaster. We escaped with some other slaves and battled Hela on Asgard, most of our military had already fallen, including most of my friends."

"I'm sorry," Steve breathed, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, well, that wasn't the worst."

"How is that not the worse," Steve said as he spotted another one of the beasts running into the woods in the distance, signalling this to Thor.

The god of thunder understood immediately and shot up in the air, only to return with the severed head of the beast under his arm a minute later. "I think these beasts have to be mostly dead by now," he said.

"Do not be too certain of that," warned M'Baku, who was walking up to them in that very moment.

"And who are you," Thor asked.

"I'm M'Baku, leader of the Jabari Tribe, and you must be Thor, the god of thunder. And Steve Rogers, of course," he introduced himself, nodding to both of them. They were both nodding back. "I thank you for your help in capturing these beasts, but I'm here to warn you," the man said. "Some of the tribes have lost their leaders, all remaining leaders have lost members of their tribes and some even family members. Right now they do not know who to blame, but the first people are already blaming you. They claim that you brought this all upon us. And the truth is, I do not believe them to be entirely wrong."

Thor clearly wanted to argue but didn't. Steve sighed and rediscovered his love for grass once more in a matter of a few minutes. "We are sorry," he finally said. "And when it comes to this battle, you are right, we brought it here. Not that it would have made any difference. No matter where we would have fought, Thanos winning would always have led to all these lives being lost."

M'Baku stared at the former soldier before nodding. "I understand, but do not believe others being as understanding. It might be better for you to return to the city and let us handle this."

"We can take care of ourselves," Thor argued.

Before M'Baku could argue back, Steve intervened, "What my friend wanted to say was that you should not fear for our safety, more for those who'll try to harm us."

"I won't doubt it, Captain Rogers. But that would only make a prolonged stay in Wakanda on your part more dangerous. Maybe not for you, but for civil society. People will want to see justice done, especially since the king is among the dead. And a lot will see the responsibility lie with you and your people. Imagine what will happen once the remaining ruling class won't be able to bring you to justice but will side with you and people who'll try to get justice for themselves will suffer for it? The public outcry would be enormous and we are currently lacking the means to beat something like that back."

"You want us gone from Wakanda altogether," Steve realised.

M'Baku nodded. "I'd personally welcome your help here, but having you all return to the United States and with that outside of our jurisdiction could buy the royal family and the tribe leaders enough time to calm the masses."

"That sounds logical," Thor mussed.

Steve on the other hand was not as trusting and narrowed his eyes. With his beard, which made him look several years older than he physically was, he looked downright dangerous. "Didn't you challenge T'Challa for the throne when he inherited from his father?"

"I did," M'Baku confirmed. "It's a tradition that at least one tribe leader will have to challenge the claim of the crown prince for the throne," he explained. "And I will not hide the fact that I was interested in becoming king myself, but I had pledged my loyalty to T'Challa, whom I learned to respect greatly. And that tradition is putting you even more in danger."

"How so," Steve asked, still not convinced.

"Because Shuri will have to decide if she's ready to become our queen, something some tribal leaders will already rebel against, and even if she does, she'll have to accept several challenges, way more than T'Challa did. And her chances for public support will decrease the longer you stay and she grants you protection."

Steve didn't argue back this time. He hated to admit it, but M'Baku was making a lot of sense and if they wanted to keep Wakanda from falling apart, they might really had the best chance at doing so, if they left.

"And, forgive me Captain Rogers, I guess all of you will have to find out if your friends and families made it and inform those of the fallen of their fate," M'Baku added just in the moment Steve himself had thought the same thing.

The veteran sighed and nodded. "I guess you are correct," he admitted before departing with an honourable nod of the head. Thor followed his lead as he walked up towards the city.

They were walking several minutes in silence until they had nearly reached the city's limits. Even though T'Challa had ordered an evacuation of the city, not all civilians had been brought to safety before the battle had begun, which was the reason why there were still people running around in the streets, calling for their loved ones, people hugging each other, crying. Some in joy, but most in agony and grief. And M'Baku had been right, some of them looked at him and Thor as if they blamed them for what happened. Steve gestured Thor to follow him once again and the two took a detour to a backdoor entrance into the palace that T'Challa had shown him during one of a his few visits. Two guards were positioned there, both looking shaken. At first they were trying to stop the two but soon Ramonda appeared and ordered the guards to stand down.

"M'Baku informed me you two were coming. I had originally guessed that you'd use the front gate."

Steve shrugged. "Well, M'Baku was right, we are not public heroes at the moment. Better to prevent any unnecessary confrontations."

Ramonda smiled and nodded, but there was still a trace of sadness in her face that conflicted with the grace she was holding herself with. "You should know that I do not blame you for the fate of either of my children."

"Either? What happened to Shuri," asked Steve, shocked.

"She's okay, only slightly injured. Still, if she were to take her brothers throne, her changes to stand up a warrior challenging her were already not the best, despite her being a formidable fighter herself, but being injured, slightly as it is, does not increase her chances." The two men nodded before the Queen Mother turned towards Thor. "And you must be Thor, it is an honour to meet you, Prince of Asgard."

Thor's face got emotionless and looked like a cold mask in less than a second, reminding Steve that they never finished their talk about what happened with Hela. "I am prince of nothing," was all he said before remembering whom he was talking to. "But I i's still an honour to be meeting you," he said with a slight bow.

Ramonda seemed to have been very surprised by Thor's reaction but still led him and Steve to the visitor area, where they found Rhodey and, to their surprise, Rocket, who seemed to have quickly familiarised himself with earthly alcohol since he started to show first signs of drunkenness.

"Seriously, Rabbit," Thor asked his companion, clearly annoyed by his behaviour.

"Rabbit? He's a raccoon," interjected Rhodey.

"Do not call me raccoon," Rocket slurred. "I know what I am, and I do not like to be reminded of that, so yeah, call me a rabbit all you want, whatever a rabbit is."

Steve watched this exchange both bemused and befuddled. He still had no idea how Thor had met this fellow or his wooden companion who had turned into dust, but there were more important issues at hand right now. "Where are Bruce and Natasha," he asked, mostly Rhodey but he was going to take any answer he would get.

"Here," Natasha said, smiling, as she and Bruce entered the room.

"Luckily for me, nothing happened, only a few bruises," Bruce explained as he sat down on one of the couches in the room. He was the only one sitting. "So, what's next, Steve," he asked when everybody remained quiet.

Steve closed his eyes and started pacing. "I don't know. I think, the first order of business should be to find out who's still alive and who isn't," he declared and all agreed. "Good, and we'll have to inform family members," he added, before saying, "At least I'll have to."

"Sam's," said Natasha. It wasn't a question.

Steve nodded gloomily. "He had a sister with a family, let's hope they are okay."

They all nodded in silence.

"But what then," Bruce asked again.

Steve shrugged. "I don't know, I mean, all I can think about is figuring out if we can fix this but I do not know how."

"Well, we could always try to give Thanos another whooping," slurred Rocket, falling down next to Bruce on the couch.

"He's a...," Bruce began but the others simply stated that they knew.

"I support Rocket's idea," Thor finally said. "Let's find Thanos and avenge the people he has killed."

"And with what army," Natasha asked, crossing her arms. "We got our ass beaten by him this time around and now we are way fewer people. What would make you think, we would even stand a chance?"

Nobody knew the answer.

"You might be right, Lady Natasha, but we still need to do something. We can not have him keep the stones even though his gauntlet is damaged," Thor finally said, breaking the silence.

"His gauntlet is damaged," shot it out of Steve before anybody else could say anything.

Thor nodded. "It is indeed. After he snapped his fingers it burnt out. I doubt that it is fully functional anymore, but Thanos possessing all six Infinity Stones is a danger in of itself, regardless if he is able to wield them all together."

After all they had heard about Thanos and had seen him do, they had to agree with that sentiment.

They all fell back into silence until Steve decided to make another decision. "First things first, let's get our things together and head back to the States."

"The what," Rocket asked.

"The United States of America, a country here on Earth, the home of these people," Thor answered gesturing to his friends.

"A country? Man, how primitive is this world," Rocket complained.

Steve chuckled. "Sometimes way more than most of us would like to admit, I'm afraid."

That reaction clearly didn't surprise Natasha nor Ramonda, who had remained with them, and Rhodey himself didn't look shocked at all, but Bruce and Thor were definitely taken aback by this statement. "I think we'll have lots to talk about," Bruce muttered and Thor agreed.

Steve turned around to Ramonda but she said something first. "I'll send my daughter to see you off."

"That's not...," Steve tried to protest but Ramonda had left before he could finish.

* * *

Not even an hour later they had managed to get hold of Vision's remains, Red Wing and Bucky's machine gun, and brought them all onto the quinjet. At least in Vision's case there would be a funeral, Steve thought. As they were about to enter their flight, Shuri arrived.

"Captain Rogers," she called. "I'm sorry to hear you are leaving so soon."

"Yeah, well, it seemed like the best idea," Steve said.

Shuri nodded. "I've talked to both my mother and M'Baku and they agree. My cousin's attempt of usurping the throne has barely pasted for us. We were just returning to normal, I..."

"This must be hard for you, your grace," Steve offered.

But Shuri waved off. "I'm not queen yet," she said. "The truth is, I do not even know if I want to become queen," she admitted in a hushing tone.

Steve was surprised by this statement. "But, who would then... M'Baku."

Shuri nodded while sighing. "Probably. But we'll have to talk this through. I had just hoped that I could build on the council of you and your friends. Not to mention that I would have loved to continue to work with Dr. Banner."

Steve smiled sadly. "I'll tell him that," he said before bowing and walking onto the jet, which took off immediately after that.


	2. Chapter 2: Arrival on Earth

She was actually kinda impressed that he made it, Nebula had to admit as she was calculating the best way to navigate through the Terran solar system to get her companion back to Earth. He had never made a jump before and was badly injured, and still he had managed to keep it together. She could of course see that he had to fight against throwing up and that most of his colour had left his face, but the truth was, she had believed that he was going to pass out during the second jump. It was probably sheer will power that kept him awake, Nebula mused.

"When are we going to be there," he suddenly asked, his voice a bit shaky even though he tried to fight that.

"Soon," was her answer.

"Not very specific," came the snide back.

Nebula sighed. "Listen, Terran, I'm brining you home because you were right, I'll need help to face my father and kill him, and you have proven to be capable to standing up to him, not many people are willing and capable of doing so. But I do not need your constant remarks and sarcasm."

"Yeah, well, sorry, just potentially dying over here and wanting to know when we might get to a hospital, but if that isn't okay with you, fine," responded Stark.

Nebula nearly rolled her eyes. This man was tiring. She had only been on board with him for less than an hour and he had clearly shown to be as irritating if not more irritating than Quill. Not only due to his sarcastic comments, he also asked constant questions about everything – Thanos, the ship, for most people completely ordinary technology, and politics in space. He was clearly trying to keep his mind awake but it was starting to tire out Nebula. She wasn't used to so much talking due to her upbringing, one if not the main reason she preferred to work alone and had turned down the opportunity to join the Guardians in the past. A choice she was nearly starting to regret now. Nearly because becoming part of the Guardians might have meant for her to spent more time with Gamora but it would have also entailed spending time with Quill and that annoying raccoon – and if anything, sitting in this ship's cockpit together with Tony Stark for less than hour showed her that she was not up to handle something like that before turning into a killer again.

Stark was about to open his mouth again but an angry glare from Nebula shut him up immediately. Shaking her head, Nebula turned to the navigational arrays again, plotting a course through the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Only a few seconds later, Stark let out an artificial cough. "What is it," asked Nebula angrily.

"I could be wrong, but I think these scanners have picked something up," he said, pointing at one of the screens in front of him.

Nebula pressed a few buttons and transferred the scanner image onto her screens. There was clearly something coming from Earth at relatively slow speed, meaning it was not one of Thanos' ships. "Somebody's leaving Terra."

"Thanos?"

"No, it is too slow to be one of his ships."

"Any idea who else it could be?"

Nebula shook her head. "It does not appear to be of any known class."

"Do we have visuals?"

"We are too far away to see it," Nebula answered, asking herself why Stark would even ask such a question.

"Are you telling me that we can only visually see what we can spot from the window," Stark asked, sounding surprised and as if he wasn't believing her.

"Of course," responded Nebula. "For everything else we got scanners."

"Yeah, only that those are not much help once they pick something up that they can't identify, are they?"

Nebula gave him another stern glare but didn't say anything since she knew he was right – and she hated to admit that. Suddenly there was a beep. "The computer has plotted the perfect course through the asteroid belt. In less than a minute we'll be in Terra's orbit and will most likely be able to see it."

"Well, better than nothing," muttered Stark. "I guess this is not going to be nearly as painful as the previous jumps?"

"Not even close," answered Nebula and accelerated the ship for a few seconds before letting it drop back to normal speed. They were now directly facing Earth and Nebula noticed Stark's features softening. There was even a certain awe on his face, which probably came from the fact that he had never seen his planet from this perspective in person, she supposed.

Nebula only took the sight in for a second, she has seen too many planet from orbit to hold any kind of wonder for this kind of sight anymore, before starting to search the scanners for the other ship, only to realise that it had left orbit and was now accelerating away from Earth. "It's leaving. We might get a chance to see it but I doubt it," announced Nebula and entered an high orbit at the maximum possible speed.

Stark only responded with a simple "mmh," clearly still left in his thoughts. Nebula decided to award him one more glance. He was working on something, prompting her to ask him what he was doing.

"You'll see," he answered and he continued to press several buttons on the work display in front of him. "Eureka," he suddenly shouted, which was kinda irritating. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you hear me?"

Before Nebula could ask who or what Friday was, a female voice answered. "Boss, good to hear from you."

"Good to hear you, too," Stark sighed with relief. "I'm in a spaceship at the moment and I'll need a landing space near a hospital equipped to deal with sever thorax trauma."

"I'm starting to look but it's complete chaos right now, half the population seems to have..."

"...disappeared," Tony finished the sentence. "Yeah, happened all across the universe on every single planet." He took a deep breath. It was obvious to Nebula that he wanted to ask something very emotional next. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you tell me who's still there? I mean, is Pepper..."

"Miss Potts is still alive. She's currently in a phone conference with the remaining board members. Shall I call her?"

Stark let out a clear sigh of relief. Nebula deduced from that, that whoever this Pepper Potts was, she must have been pretty important to him.

"No, you don't have to. Any words from the Avengers?"

"No, boss, I'm sorry. They were in Wakanda and engaged the alien hostiles but there's no word about their survival yet."

This news clearly was not a positive one, Nebula knew so much without knowing what Wakanda was or who these Avengers were. They clearly meant something to Stark and it was a real possibility that they were dead. Not only that, the alien hostlies were clearly the Black Order and Thanos. The Avengers engaging them probably meant that they were some kind of defence force on Terra. Knowing the Black Order, odds were already against these Avengers, Nebula concluded, and with Thanos having control of the Infinity Stones they were slim to none.

But she didn't say anything, instead she tried to get them into a position from which it might have been possible to get a good look at whatever had just left Terra but they seemed to be too late. The ship, or whatever it was, had already passed the moon and was now going with near light-speed.

"We missed it."

"What?"

"Whatever just left Terra, we missed it," Nebula explained.

"Who is that, boss," asked Friday.

"Oh, this is Nebula, the pilot of the ship I'm on," explained Stark. "Now, how about some hospital coordinates?"

"Boss, I'd recommend landing the ship at the Avengers facility and get treated there. Some of the medical team is still there, including Dr. Brown," the woman said.

"Okay then," Stark replied and typed something into the display. "Those are the coordinates," he said to Nebula.

Nebula simply nodded and put in a landing course.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you make sure that we land safely without the military intercepting us?"

"Already on it, boss."

Nebula had to admit that she hadn't even thought of that. Terra might have been relatively primitive but it had military that was advanced enough to built weapons that could blow them out of the sky, she knew that much. She had seen the effect one of their missiles did have had on the Chitauri army years ago when Loki had tried to invade Earth in her father's name. And if Stark could make sure that they were not blown out of the sky, it probably meant that he was a very important person on Terra. Well, Nebula thought, if you had to get yourself onto such a planet, being in the companion of somebody with influence might be the best thing that could have happened to you.

Their descend was effortless. Terra's atmosphere didn't have any disturbances and no military vessel or missile was to be seen. Stark instructed her to come at the facility from the planet's north to avoid being spotted by the people in a city nearby. As they approached their landing spot, Nebula could see the city. On foot it would have taken days to reach it, but it was still clearly visible. The tall buildings, the tallest of which must have been over 600 meters tall, were hard not to see.

"What's the name of the city?"

"New York City, and this is New York State," Stark answered.

"New York? I think I heard that name before," Nebula wondered out loud.

"It was the city that Loki attacked six years ago. And it was the city the Black Order attacked a few days ago."

Nebula nodded. No wonder Stark didn't want her to fly over the city. The people there probably weren't too keen on seeing another ship fly by, especially after what just happened a few hours ago.

"How many people live there?"

"Eight million, within the city limits. Twelve, if you count the surrounding areas. Largest city in the country, used to be the largest in the world, but other cities in poorer countries tend to grow way faster."

"I take it, this country, New York, is a rich country?"

"The name of the country is not New York, it's the United States of America or simply America or US for short," Tony lectured. "And it is the second richest country in the world actually, right after Wakanda."

Nebula simply nodded, finally seeing the facility. It was wide area with some large warehouse style building on it and some obvious landing spots, which were probably intended for aircrafts. "Where should I land?"

"Landing spot 2 will is available. I'll send a medical team there," Friday said.

Nebula had nearly forgotten that Stark had linked the ship's communication array with the facility. Instead of arguing or answering she simply looked around and saw lights at one of the landing spots starting to blink. This must have been landing spot 2, she thought. She managed to bring the Benatar down in only a few seconds and performed a perfect landing.

"Thanks for bringing me home," Stark said and Nebula simply nodded. She didn't know what to say to that anyway.

The two got up and left the ship as four people with a gurney walked towards them.

"Ah, Dr. Brown," Stark greeted one of them.

"Where's the injury," the man he just greeted asked. He was a bit taller than Stark, maybe even of the same age, but with less hair and some sort of googles on his face. He wore blue scrubs and a white coat over it, while the three others all wore white scrubs.

Stark pointed at his stomach. "Here," he said. "The nanobots of my suit have been sealing the wound off to stop the blood loss but there's definitely some internal damage and I don't know for how long the bots can keep the blood back either."

Dr. Brown nodded in response with a grim look on his face. "Get on the gurney," he told Stark and even though Stark rolled his eyes, he did as he was told. "What about you, Miss?"

"What about me," Nebula asked.

"Are you injured as well?"

Nebula shook her head. "No, and I doubt that your medicine could help me anyway," was her cold response.

The doctor didn't say anything, he simply shrugged and gave the signal to move Stark to their medical centre. As they entered the facility it was clear that chaos was afoot. People were running around, some in more serious attire than others, some holding some sort of communication device to their ears while others were tapping their ears, probably using some other kind of communication device. A few were shouting actual commands through the room. One one of these people stopped as soon as he saw them coming into the hall and started walking towards them at a fast pace. He was tall, a bit overweight with black hair and wore a black suit. The first words he said were, "Oh god, Tony."

"Hey, Happy," Stark responded. "Glad you made it."

"Made it? What are you talking about? What happened? What happened to you? And who's she," he asked, pointing at Nebula, while starting to walk alongside the gurney.

"Well, she's the one that brought me here. Happy, Nebula, Nebula, Happy," Stark introduced the two. "She flew the spaceship out there."

"So, she's alien?"

"Yep," Stark answered. "And as you can see, I was stabbed. So that's what happened to me."

"By whom," Happy asked and Nebula nearly rolled her eyes. This man was clueless so why would he think he would know who Thanos was if Stark told him the name, she asked herself.

"Her father," Stark answered and yanked his head towards Nebula. "He's also the one who turned everyone to dust. We tried to stop him, but, well, you see what happened," he explained.

Happy clearly needed a moment to process this new information. "Wait, her father," he suddenly asked, looking directly at Nebula.

"Yes, my father."

"Well, adoptive father," Stark added.

"Still," Happy started to protest.

"Thanos killed my birth family, destroyed half my planet, tortured me and the other children he abducted to turn us into killers, making us all despise one another. Believe me, I hate him, probably more than anybody on this planet does at the moment," Nebula defended herself.

Now this Happy guy was at a loss for words. "Oh, yeah, well, I'm sorry, for all that's worth," he said as they reached the medical bay, where the doctor told them to wait outside. "Does Pepper know you're back," Happy shouted after Tony but got no response.

"She does not," Nebula answered as they remained in the waiting area. "He established a communication link with somebody called Friday and told her to not inform this Pepper person."

Happy nodded and then ordered Friday to call Pepper, even though Nebula couldn't see anybody where he was looking at.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hogan, but I've an order from Mr. Stark," answered the female voice.

Nebula looked around but didn't see anyone, causing her to realise something. "It's an A.I."

"Yes, I am. F.R.I.D.A.Y., Female Rational Intelligence Design All Yours, Mr. Stark's personal assistant."

"Fine," Happy said, "then I'll do it." He got out one of the communication devices Nebula had seen others holding to their ears. He pressed a few digits and then held it to his ear as well. "It's a cell phone," he told her. Nebula hadn't asked and she didn't think that she looked confused but maybe she had or maybe this Happy just was the kind of person who would explain something to somebody immediately if he thought they wouldn't know what it was. Normally Nebula found these kind of people annoying, but right now it was actually helpful since she was on a planet she barely knew anything about.

"Pepper, here's Happy," he said into his phone. "Yeah, it's about Tony," he then said, clearly responding to something said on the other end of the line. "He's in surgery right now. … No he was still awake when he came here. … I've no idea what happened, well not exactly. … He was stepped by some guy named Thanos. … I don't know who that is, but according to Tony he was the one who turned everyone to dust. … I don't know. … Yeah, you better." Happy ended his call and put his phone back into his pocket. "She's coming."

"You shouldn't have done so," F.R.I.D.A.Y. told him.

"Well, then why didn't you stop me," Happy retorted.

"I was only ordered to not call Ms. Potts myself," argued F.R.I.D.A.Y., sounding a bit confused.

Nebula nearly smirked. F.R.I.D.A.Y. was obviously programmed to follow Stark's wishes but she had clearly developed a subconscious, which she didn't even seem to be aware of.

"So, what now," Nebula asked Happy.

"We'll wait, or, you wait, I've some work to do. I'm the head of security around here after all," he told her before asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. to call him when Stark was out of surgery or Pepper was coming, then he walked away, touching his ear to seemingly speak to somebody.

"Why does he have to different communication devices on him," Nebula found herself asking.

"His in-ear communicator only functions with other people having them as well who also happen to be linked into the same communication network, meaning that only other people working in this facility can be communicated with using those, while a cell phone can be used to contact everybody with a phone device, which is nearly everybody on the planet," F.R.I.D.A.Y. explained.

Nebula nodded and started to look around. She didn't really feel like sitting around here but sneaking around and exploring the facility probably wasn't a good idea either. "I'll go back to the ship. You still have access to its communication array?"

"Yes, I have."

"Then inform me when Stark gets out of surgery," Nebula told her and left, not even waiting for an answer.

Nebula was sitting in Gamora's quarters, which she had quickly realised were also part Quill's as well. They seemed to have been in the transitional phase of moving in together. If Nebula would still have had the ability to actually cry, she would have done so at this moment. Instead she wept silently, holding a picture of her and Gamora close to her chest. She didn't know when it was taken but it must have been during one of her run-ins with the Guardians after the Ego incident. It was one of only two pictures on Gamora's bedside cabinet, the other one was of her and Quill. Gamora really must have been in love with that irritating human, Nebula thought. And while that irritated her, it also made her kind of happy. Not only had her sister found somebody to love who actually loved her back, but she, Nebula, was the only other person as important to Gamora as the man she loved. But just as soon as this happiness had started to root itself inside of her, it broke her again. Because Gamora was dead and there was nothing she could do about it.

Then, suddenly, there was an alarm that made her jump. "What is going on?"

"Mr. Hogan and Ms. Potts would like to acquire access to your ship, Ms. Nebula," F.R.I.D.A.Y. answered.

This irritated Nebula even more for a second. She had forgotten about F.R.I.D.A.Y. for a moment, which was kinda embarrassing for her. "Ah, thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Nebula replied, nearly stammering. "I'll meet them outside."

"I'll tell them," F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.

Nebula shook her head. This was really weird, she had to admit to herself. She had been on so many ships, barely any of them ever talked back to you. Then again, F.R.I.D.A.Y., at least to her knowledge, only had access to the communication array and not to any other function of the ship. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have an A.I.-assistant helping you run a ship, Nebula thought but quickly dismissed that thought. She was not going to ask some human to develop an A.I. for her, especially since it would have had to be compatible with the ship's computer's base programming anyway.

Banning these thoughts out of her mind she got out of her sister's quarters and made the way to the ship's exit. Lowering the exit ramp she saw Happy and a woman with red-orange hair next to him. She was dressed in dark grey attire with a skirt instead of pants. She clearly had been crying. "You are Nebula, I suppose? I'm Pepper Potts," she introduced herself, stretching out her hand in a greeting.

Nebula nodded and took her hand a bit awkwardly. After a quick shake they both let go. "Is Stark out of surgery?"

"No, not yet, but the doctor's are optimistic that he's gonna make it," Pepper answered. "Why don't you come with us and tell us what exactly happened."

Nebula could tell that this was not a request or an offer but a demand, despite Pepper's friendly attitude. The woman clearly knew how to make people feel welcome while pushing them into doing what she wanted. "Why not," Nebula replied and the three set off for the building. Under other circumstances she would have argued but right now she didn't really have it in her, which she didn't want to admit to herself and instead she was rationalising it by telling herself that she had to work together with these people to get her revenge on Thanos, which wasn't untrue either.

Pepper led the way. Not to waiting room for the medical bay but instead up some stairs and down a long hallway into a conference room.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., make sure that Ross or whoever else will not call in, understood," Pepper ordered and the A.I. immediately followed the order. "Good, then, please take a seat," Pepper offered. Her strong attitude beginning to crumble and somebody more vulnerable started to shine through. "Would you like a drink?"

Nebula shook her head. "I don't drink. I have no need for it."

Pepper raised her eyebrows and looked at Happy, who simply shrugged. Nebula sighed and explained her being a cyborg and that Thanos had done this to her and why. She wasn't used to tell her story to anyone, but she continued to tell herself that she needed the trust of these people.

"I'm sorry," Pepper breathed and Nebula really believed the woman. He strong facade seemed to have been vaporised by her story and now it was just two broken women sitting across of one another. "So, I don't wanna press you but, what exactly happened to Tony?"

Nebula started to tell them what had happened. How Thanos was the last of his people, how he believed that he had to kill half of every population in the universe to save the other half, how he had kidnapped children like her across the known cosmos to raise them as his own to become weapons for him, how he had started to look for the Infinity Stones and what they could do, and that he now seemed to have had control over all six of them, which had given him the ability to destroy half the universe with the snap of his fingers.

"Oh my god," Pepper breathed. "And he stabbed Tony?"

Nebula nodded. She then continued to tell them how Thanos had captured her, how he tortured her and got Gamora to tell him where the Soul Stone was hidden by doing so, how she had escaped Thanos' ship and crash-landed on Titan, where the Guardians of the Galaxy and Stark together with some wizard and a boy in a red suit were engaging Thanos in battle. How they had nearly won if she hadn't made Thanos confess to killing Gamora, causing Quill to lose his cool, breaking Mantnis already weak grip on Thanos' mind and how the battle continued with Thanos raining one of Titan's moons upon them, taking them all out besides Stark, who continued to fight and even scratched Thanos, managing to make him bleed for the first time in a long, long time. Then Thanos used Stark's own blade, which his nanobots had conjured up, to stab him, before the wizard, Dr. Strange, gave up the Time Stone in exchange for Stark's life.

"And then Thanos disappeared through a portal created by the Space Stone," Nebula finished her tale.

Pepper looked and Happy. "He went after the last stone," she realised before closing her eyes. "Vision."

"Who?"

"Vision, an android, Tony had a hand in designing. His base consciousness was Tony's first real A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S.. He was powered by the Mind Stone," Pepper explained.

It wasn't the first time today Nebula thought about doing something that she didn't need to do but would have totally done if she was still an organic creature, in this case it was swallowing down a lump in her throat.

"And all the others disappeared," Happy asked.

Nebula nodded in response and the other two looked at each other in horror.

"You mean the kid is gone," Pepper asked shocked.

"Yes. He died in Stark's arms, saying something I couldn't clearly make out," Nebula said. "Were the two close?"

The other two averted her gaze. "Peter, Peter Parker, was Tony's protégé," Happy said. "And I was kinda his babysitter for a while."

Nebula closed her eyes and sighed. "Stark clearly seemed to care about him."

"I think he saw in Peter the chance to form somebody not unlike himself into somebody better than him," Pepper said. "He was the son he didn't have and since Peter's parents are dead and all he has left is, was, his aunt, he saw a father figure in Tony."

"Only that Tony would have never admitted that," Happy added.

Silence lay over the three of them, neither knowing what to say. It was a lot to take in for all of them. Nebula didn't ask further questions about the wizard, the look Happy had given Pepper once she had mentioned that and Pepper's look in response told her that the two didn't really know much about this person either. Before they could lose track of time F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke up, "Mr. Stark is out of surgery and is brought into the anaesthetic recovery room at the moment."

Pepper let out the loudest sigh of relief, but Nebula found herself also relaxing. She had only known Stark for a few hours and he was annoying but he also had an obviously magnetic personality, drawing people to him. His heroism of Titan and his apparent genius did the rest to impress Nebula enough to realise that he had been right – she would need his help in defeating Thanos. That was why the wizard had let him live. He needed to live, she needed him to live to defeat Thanos. And with the loss of the Guardians she would also need another group of people who resampled something like friends to her, who she could at least trust to a certain degree and who would come to her aid if needed. Right now, Stark seemed like the best option she had in this case as well.

The three of them got up and walked to the waiting room across the facility. Dr. Brown was waiting for them and told Pepper how it looked. Stark was apparently going to make a full recovery but he needed rest for the next couple of days if not weeks. Pepper, who, as it turned out, was Stark's fiancée, and with that soon to be wife, was tasked with making sure that he was going to stay in bed for at least a short while. A task Pepper seemed to take up gladly.

"When can we visit him," Pepper asked but before Dr. Brown could answer, F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke up again, announcing a quinjet coming in, whatever that was.

"Do you know who it is," Happy asked.

"It's me, Happy," a male voice answered. "Together with Steve, Tasha, Thor, Bruce and some raccoon calling himself Rocket."

Nebula had never thought that new of Rocket coming to her location would make her feel somewhat happy, but it actually did. One of the Guardians had survived after all.

"Did he say raccoon," Brown asked.

Happy and Pepper simply looked at Nebula, who had told them about the Guardians. "We'll greet you at the hanger," Happy said.

"You can go as well, Ms. Potts, it won't be until an hour or even two until Mr. Stark will have woken up," the doctor told Pepper, who nodded and then followed Happy and Nebula to the hanger to greet the new arrivals.


End file.
